Spirituality in nursing practice

Spirituality is an important aspect of holistic care which is frequently overlooked owing to difficulty conceptualising spirituality and confusion about how to integrate it into nursing care. This article seeks to understand what is meant by spirituality and spiritually competent practice, it explores some of the attitudes towards spirituality and describes some of issues affecting integration of spirituality into nursing care

Psychotherapeutic approaches to the elderly: Part Two

It is not easy to come to terms with retirement, failing bodily functions, increased vulnerability, potential institutionalisation and inevitable death. For some this is a stage of life tinged with difficult memories of being cared for when they were younger. It is not uncommon to see some older adults with a past history of childhood trauma and adversity develop new onset relationship problems having lost the containment of a career or a loved one. Older people can derive huge benefit from psychotherapeutic approaches. Personal transformation may enable them to go on to enjoy meaningful and fruitful old and new relationships whether in the community or in a care home

Why are Spiritual Aspects of Care so hard to Address in Nursing Education?’ A Literature Review (1993-2015)

Difficulties persist in conceptualising spiritual needs and understanding their relationship to religious needs and relevance to wellbeing. This review was undertaken to clarify some of these issues. It set out to establish what is already known about how issues of spiritual assessment and care are addressed in undergraduate nursing education. Using a systematic approach, a literature review covering the period 1993-2015 was undertaken. Reviewed materials were collected from mainly online sources including with searches conducted using CINHAL, SUMMON and PubMed databases, after defining keywords and inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study found that Spirituality appears to be a broad but useful category which is concerned with how people experience meaning and purpose in their lives. However, it also established that here are relatively few studies focused on how spiritual care competencies could be developed in nursing students. There is also little work exploring nursing educators’ perspectives and experiences about how to develop spiritual competencies in their students. The study concludes that further research is necessary in order to bridge the gap between aspirations and practice

The importance of spirituality in caring for patients

Key points: According to the GMC, attention to spiritual issues is expected as part of a medical assessment. 1. Spirituality is hard to define precisely but it can be understood as what gives meaning and purpose and a sense of connectedness to life. 2. Religion and spirituality overlap but are distinct and there are non-religious as well as religious approaches to spirituality. 3. Serious illness and injury may challenge patients’ spirituality and clinicians need to be sensitive to this and provide or arrange support as appropriate to meet their spiritual needs. 4. Training to address these issues is in its infancy in the UK, though nursing research has identified key competencies than can be applied to medicine, too. 5. The present challenges in the NHS mean we need to pay particular attention to organisational issues related to spirituality

Nursing spiritually: What do we know? How do we know?

The Chief Nursing Officers Review (2006) recommended mental health nurses act in response to the spiritual and/ or religious needs of service users. However, this aspect of care is still approached with uncertainty by many nurses, who are reluctant to engage with it despite professional requirements to provide holistic care. Nurses may fear imposing their own view, or intruding on the privacy of a person who is already vulnerable. Nurses may additionally be unaware of their own spiritual needs and be consequently unprepared to recognise them in others (Elliott, 2011). This presentation presents initial findings from on-going research undertaken as part of a Professional Doctorate. The study uses a qualitative phenomenological approach to explore mental health nurses’ understanding of the spiritual needs of service users. Interviews were undertaken with 17 qualified mental health nurses currently in clinical practice and included a range of ages, gender and clinical experience. Data were analysed thematically using Template Analysis (e.g. Brooks et al, 2015). Some of the main themes emerging from the on-going study include differing belief systems (including the supernatural), professional responsibilities, cognitive dissonance and professionals’ own differing perspectives from service users. Mental health nurses may be influenced by fear of ridicule from colleagues. Whilst they may privately empathise with a service user’s spiritual needs, they are more likely to record any potential spiritual expression as delusional. This may result in a negative outcome for the service user (e.g. an increase in medication). A primary aim of this work is to consider how mental health nurses might be supported to identify and address spiritual needs and improve the service user experience. Potential outputs include the development of an assessment tool and educational programmes for mental health nurses

“It’s a Big Family Here.” Becoming and Belonging in a Service Providing Employment-Related Support for People with Mental Health Problems: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

The impact of employment for individuals with mental health problems is complex. However, research suggests that when support is provided for accessing employment and gaining roles and skills that are valued by others, a positive efect can be seen on recovery. Employment-related support can take many forms and there is a need for further research into the experience of accessing diferent kinds of services. The current paper examines the lived experience of 11 people participating in a UK social enterprise providing work experience, training, and skills development for those with mental health problems. Although ‘sheltered’, the organisational ethos strongly emphasised service-user empowerment, co-production, equality with staf, provision of valued social roles and person-centred support. Phenomenological analysis revealed that participants valued a sense of belonging and authentic relationships within the service, whilst being given the opportunity to rediscover an identity that may have been lost because of their mental health problem. However, participants also discussed how, although the service improved their self-value, some feared the ‘real world’ outside of the service and were unsure whether they would be met with the same support. Tensions between feld dominant approaches in supported employment and the experiences and values of the participants are explored. We argue that the fndings highlight the importance of a nurturing working environment and the value for recovery of a range of meaningful roles, beyond competitive employment